He slid one cushion length closer. “Where are they?”
“Kerguelen Islands.”
“Ker-what?”
“Southern Indian Ocean. Remote. The closest population area is over two-thousand miles away. There are no more than a hundred or so residents at a time, depending on the season.”
“You left them on a deserted island?”
“The territory is known as Desolation Islands. That’s not the same as deserted. For your peace of mind, I also healed them so they wouldn’t die, although they still may if they don’t make friends with the locals. Based on how they mistreated you, I doubt they know how to treat anyone, even if it means their survival.”
Oh, but his dragon had a wicked streak.
“That’s pretty ruthless of you.”
“I’m a dragon. How many times must I remind you?”
“You’re a kind and sensitive dragon, Kya. Stop pretending as if you enjoy when you act out in violence or vengeance. I know you don’t, which was why I asked you to not kill them.” He slid even closer, invading her personal space, which he knew she hated. “Are you mad at me?”
“Tell me why those men were in your home.”
“Tell me how you look like the Kya of my dreams. I mean, you look exactly the way I envisioned you would if you were human. How is that possible?”
“It isn’t, and you’re far too close.”
“Am I?” When Armstrong leaned in, his left arm pressed against her right and his lips were inches from her face. “You’re the woman from my dreams. I had no idea you shifted into anything, no less a human. But I saw you, this human you, years ago. When I dreamed, you came to me, and I thought you were a figment of my imagination. But you weren’t.”
“Armstrong I—”
He kissed her. Short and sweet and on shocked lips. It wasn’t his best move, but he had to taste her. If he’d asked permission, she would’ve said no.
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
“I know.”
He did it again. This time, he moved in slow, giving Kya time to push him away if she didn’t want his kiss. Perhaps she was still in shock, but she didn’t move, say no or shove against his chest. So he kissed her again. Nothing fancy. Just a press of lips to lips. She wasn’t ready for more, wouldn’t even know what more was because Armstrong had no doubt Kya had never allowed any human to touch her like this before.
The knowledge of her complete innocence and trust had him whispering his greatest secret.
“I love you, Bloodstone Dragon. Kya.” He wanted to know if she loved him in return but stopped himself from asking. Armstrong didn’t want to spook her more than he probably already had. “Stay with me tonight. I’m not asking you to commit to more than sleeping at my side. Of letting me hold you while you sleep and being here when I wake up.”
“This can never be. We can never be. Even if I let you hold and treat me as a human woman, I can never be her for you. Your love is wasted on a dragon’s heart.”
Armstrong kissed her again because she was right and painfully wrong. Cradling her face between his hands, he showed Kya, without words, how to kiss. Lips moved against hers, slow, soft and patient. To his delight, Kya was a fast learner. She responded with aching tenderness and desire.
God, he wanted to deepen the kiss, wanted to slake his pent-up urges and make Kya his in every way possible. He wouldn’t, no matter the temptation. Not only was Kya a virgin, but she also wasn’t ready for that level of physical intimacy. He didn’t even think she understood her human body enough to know what she was feeling and why.
Lips slid to the long column of her neck. Mouth opened and tongue came out to explore. She gasped, and he did it again. A hand found nape, hair, and scalp. Another moan.
Damn, Kya was so responsive. And innocent.
Forcing his hands and lips to obey, Armstrong gave Kya one last peck on her lips and moved to the other side of the couch.
Dazed, she stared at him as if she didn’t know what to say or do. They sat there while Kya made out whatever was on her mind. Armstrong, too afraid to tip the balance in the wrong direction, chose to keep his mouth shut.
“You’re going to break my dragon’s heart, Armstrong Knight.”
“I promise, I won’t.”
“You will because I want what isn’t mine to have. I cannot live the life of a human.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
“The question was in your gentle kisses, your reverent hands, and the eyes that gaze upon me with conflicted hope.”
“One day at a time. Tonight, we share the same bed. Not as new lovers but as old friends.”
“Tell me why those men were here.”
He should’ve known his dragon would return to that topic.
“I think it had something to do with the terrorist threat against the president.”
“Why did you ask me to stay away?”
“We aren’t supposed to be connected, remember? I didn’t want you swooping in here and lopping off heads.”
Armstrong wondered if, since she wasn’t in her dragon form, Kya could smell his lies. If she could, he would lose her for sure. When she nodded, he smiled at his success. Then frowned on the inside. He hated lying to her almost as much as he loathed the thought of losing her. What did it matter anyway? Those men, after getting a taste of Kya’s magic, wouldn’t come back for more. Only fools would challenge a dragon.
Or lie to one, he thought, guilt robbing him of the pleasure of potentially having Kya stay the night.
“What if they return?”
“They won’t. I think it’s safe to say you scared the crap out of them. They won’t come back.”
“Will you call to me if they do?”
“Yeah.”
He wouldn’t. Armstrong had a good idea why the men wanted his Kya. He’d be damned if he let anyone lock her in a cage, use her as a weapon of war, or experiment on her for their sadistic pleasure of taming a dragon.
The next time they came for Armstrong, thinking to use him to get to Kya, he’d be ready for them.
Taking Kya by the hand, Armstrong led her up the stairs and to his bedroom. She watched him as he undressed her to her underwear and said nothing when he removed her bra and replaced it with one of his T-shirts.
Gorgeous dragon eyes on him, Armstrong yanked off his T-shirt, socks, and pants. In his boxers, he climbed into bed and raised his hand to Kya.
She didn’t move. “This is a mistake. I’m not a human.”
“I fell in love with you as a dragon. This isn’t about being human or dragon but our feelings for each other.”
He lowered his hand and snuggled under the covers. Kya knew her mind. As she’d told him many times, she did as she wished.
“Do not think I don’t know when I’m being emotionally manipulated.”
“As I said, you’re the smartest person I know, as well as the stubbornest. You make me work for every inch you give.”
“That’s because you want too much.”
“I only want you.”
“As I said, you want too much.”
With a dip of the mattress, Kya joined him. A statue would’ve been softer for all that she didn’t relax.
“Come here, my Bloodstone Dragon.”
She didn’t, so Armstrong moved to her. With a bit of effort, he managed to convince Kya to lay on her side. Spooning behind her, he held her the way he’d dreamed of for years. For once, they were the same size and Armstrong felt like her equal.
“I love you, Kya. I don’t care if you’re dragon or human. My feelings for you will never change.”
“I won’t say it back. I cannot.”
“I know, sweetheart. I know.”
She twisted in his arms until she faced him. Then kissed Armstrong, inexperienced and a little shy. Whatever the dragon felt for him, that went unvoiced, was expressed in her single kiss.
8
“It was a mistake.”
“Yes, so you’ve said.”
/> Kya and her mother, the Bluestone Dragon, hovered far above their island home. Four different shades of green comprised her mother’s scales, beginning with a light green at her tail and increasing in richness as the scales moved up her body and closer to her head and face. Her eyes, blue mottled with white, shone brightly with the color of her healing stone, Lapis Lazuli, as well as a mother’s disappointment in her youngest offspring.
“You’ve revealed the second greatest secret of the Dracontias. The first being the magic stone in our skull. Does your human know that secret as well?”
“No. I would never.”
“Until twenty minutes ago, I would’ve also thought you incapable of being so careless. Yet, you were. We watch and we learn, Kya. We can also befriend if needed. There’s no shame in finding and learning from a diata. Over the years, your father and I have found many a worthy human who’ve aided our knowledge of their modern world.”
Her mother flew away from Buto and Kya followed. Though not as large as the forty-foot Bluestone Dragon, Kya could keep pace. Well, she could as long as her mother wasn’t flying at her maximum speed, which she rarely had reason to do.
This flight, which humans would refer to as a stroll, had nothing to do with a dragon’s aerial prowess but a daughter’s confession and a mother’s wisdom.
“A dragon’s heart is pure. Our healing magic makes it impossible for us to act on anything but the most genuine of emotions. Your magic sought your human in his dreams. Showed him the human part of the dragon you keep hidden inside.”
“I didn’t intend for that to happen, Mother.”
She’d revealed her second form to Armstrong through dragon dream magic. A mistake she hadn’t realized she’d made until a month ago.
“Where the conscious mind refuses to act, our stone magic will bring forth our heart’s desire when we slumber. When you slept, you dreamed of the human. When he slept, he dreamed of you. Your Bloodstone merged the two unconscious desires until they actualized on the physical plane and the conscious level. Not a mistake, daughter, dragon mate magic.”
Dragon mate magic? Kya stopped. Her mother didn’t. She circled Kya, gliding the light-green tip of her tail around Kya’s head and neck.
Around and around she went, caressing Kya’s scales and calming her runaway heart. A dragon hadn’t bonded with a human in hundreds of years. All had left Buto, choosing to live in the land of the humans as a human. And all had returned with offspring from the union.
Kesins. Two-legged dragons with no Dracontias healing stone in their skull, no magical powers and no flight ability. These land dragons were half the size of Afiya, full-dragons, and didn’t possess a gold to green color scale but a red to yellow range. While they could shift, they had far less control over their transformation than a full-bloodied dragon.
Kesins, regardless of whether the mother was human or a dragon in human form, was always born as a human. Within six months of a Kesins birth, however, they would shift for the first and final time. They had no magic to stay as a human and live among them. So the dragon parent would return, Kesin in tow, to Buto, leaving behind their human mate.
She’d never heard of a dragon-human mating that lasted beyond the birth of a Kesin. Dragons cherished their mates but loved their offspring more.
“Follow your heart, Kya. It has already chosen. You will not be fully happy on Buto if you fail to answer the question you cannot escape.”
“What question is that?”
The Bluestone Dragon halted in front of Kya. Face slid beside hers and rubbed with a mother’s affection.
“What if. Life, my daughter, is full of what ifs. The more of them we possess, the less happy we are with our choices. The larger and more significant the what if, the harder it is to look forward instead of backward. Seek the answer to your heart’s desire.”
“My heart is here.”
Her mother resumed flying, and Kya followed. Not a staid pace this time. In an hour, they were over the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.
“Your heart is also here. Find the answers you seek. Home will always be there when you need it.”
“What if I return home with a Kesin?”
“The Dracontias will love your Kesin as we love the others. Your father eschews dragon-human pairings because the sacrifice for the dragon is great. But your father has never known how it feels to have his heart pulled in two different directions, which makes him protective of the Dracontias to the point of narrow-mindedness.”
“It won’t last. Why should I try?”
“We live long lives, daughter. Too long to nurse what ifs and regrets.”
“And too long to nurse a broken heart.”
“True. The decision is not an easy one. But it’s yours to make, not mine or your father’s.”
Green scales rubbed gold before her mother flew away. The Bluestone Dragon flew at a leisurely pace, glancing back once to see if Kya followed.
She should follow. Kya wanted to return home with her mother and to the easy life of a dragon unencumbered by unnatural desires and thoughts of a doomed mate bond.
She should follow, but she did not. Instead, she watched her mother fly farther away until she could no longer see the green scales of home and safety.
Reminding herself that she was the Bloodstone Dragon, Kya shored up her nerves and went in search of her human.
Armstrong found himself tapping his foot every five seconds, running fingers through his short hair every ten seconds, and glancing at the front door of the restaurant every twenty seconds. He was ridiculous. Yet there he sat, in the best steakhouse restaurant in DC waiting for his dragon-human date.
“Ah, look at him Isaiah, Armstrong’s so cute when he’s nervous.” His sister-in-law laughed, a mocking sound that had him glaring at Nicole. “What? You’re adorable. In all the years I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you nervous before. It’s kind of sweet.”
“It’s not sweet.” Isaiah, who sat beside his wife and across the table from Armstrong, shook his head. “It’s pathetic. Look at you, you haven’t said more than ten words since we sat down and you keep staring at that damn door. You know, a watched pot never boils.”
“That’s a stupid saying.” Needing something to do other than, yes, stare at every customer who came through the restaurant door, Armstrong downed his glass of water.
What made him the pathetic loser his brother just accused him of being was that he was sweaty, anxious, and acting like a complete idiot and Kya wasn’t even late. In fact, Armstrong, Isaiah, and Nicole were fifteen minutes early. Yet, Armstrong had a right to his anxiety. After the big reveal and the platonic night they’d shared in his bed, Kya had shifted back into her dragon form and flown away the next night.
She’d stayed away for a month. Not away from North America and the children she loved to heal and help but away from Armstrong. They’d connected telepathically, but the conversations were awkward when they’d never been before. Then, two weeks ago, she’d returned. For days afterward, he’d watched the sky for a big ass gold dragon in the form of Kya’s father.
She’d laughed but didn’t tell him he was being paranoid. Most nights they shared his bed and some mornings he awoke with Kya by his side. She didn’t speak much, and he didn’t push or complain. Kya, as she reminded him, was a dragon, which meant Armstrong could never have the kind of relationship with her that his brother had with Nicole.
That was okay. He’d take his dragon however he could have her. This double date was Kya’s first real interaction with anyone in a social setting outside of Armstrong. She’d agreed to meet his family, though with a lot of reluctance on her part and pleading on his. That was two days ago, and he hadn’t seen or heard from her since.
“Listen, Kya’s shy and doesn’t talk a lot so try not to overwhelm her.”
Nicole, pretty in a navy-blue fitted dress, smiled at Armstrong. About a year ago, when she was pregnant with Isabelle, she cut her hair into a short, classy style. She now wore it in
choppy layers that were combed and teased to the front and fell over her forehead in bangs.
“I guess opposites do attract. I can’t believe you went out and found a quiet girlfriend.”
Armstrong wouldn’t dare define Kya as his girlfriend, but Nicole was right about opposites attracting. More than she would ever know.
“My point is that our family can be a bit much. She’s more subdued than us.”
“If she can deal with you, then she’s not fragile. Relax,” Isaiah said. “You’re making way more out of this than is necessary. I already like the woman. If for no other reason than she got you on hooks and got Nicole and me out the house. Thank God for grandmothers who like to babysit. Do you hear me? Are you even listening?”
He wasn’t because the woman of his dreams had just walked into the restaurant. Damn but she was gorgeous. Shiny, dark hair was piled atop her head in an elegant twist style. Tendrils flowed down the long column of her neck and onto well-defined shoulders. Spaghetti straps held the sexy form-fitting black dress in place. The mouth-watering garment fell to Kya's ankles and, God help him, it hugged every voluptuous dip and curve of her body. The dress tempted for all that it hid yet alluded to.
The next time Kya claimed she didn’t know anything about being a human female, Armstrong was calling bullshit and shutting her down. Because, yes, his dragon knew how to make one hell of an entrance. Kya had style. He’d known that the first time she’d conjured clothing. But he had no idea how well she could put herself together when she set her mind to it. Maybe he wasn’t the only one nervous and wanting to make a good first impression.
Instead of waving her over, Armstrong pushed from the table and hurried over to her. Not that she would notice or care, but he didn’t like that so many male’s eyes were on her.
As he approached, Kya smiled and nodded, acknowledging him in that regal way of hers.
He didn’t know how he should greet her. They’d never done this before, meeting in public and Kya as a human. They had no reference point, which brought back his butterflies.
“Do stop staring, Armstrong. I feel self-conscious enough without you gaping at me like a fish caught in a sailor’s net.”
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